Hi all,
I read TMF in late 2011. I'm very mathy, so MJ's mathematical argument for becoming wealthy instantly hit home. The world is exponential, but most people think linearly.
At the time I was working as an Engineer at a big company you've certainly heard of. I had a masters degree in Engineering from the best school in my field, a 2 year old and another on the way and had been working out how to escape my boring, but well paying job for a while. My wife did not want me to quit -- as you might imagine. I was in an enviable position and had a lot to lose she basically would tell me. I understood her position, but I'm pretty sure I've only got one life to live and if I spent 20 years working a job I didn't want that didn't help me meet my goals it would be my own damn fault.
I had made some websites in 2009. Was able to rank #1 for some competitive and valuable terms by 2010 and I started selling SEO services in late 2010. However, I wasn't making quit-your-well-paying-job kind of money. I shut down my SEO services company after about a year because I wasn't positioned very well and, despite getting results for my clients, ran the math on scaling up and it just didn't make sense.
In March of 2012, I decided I could not take it any longer and quit my job. I had savings and a website that was making about $1k/month. I decided to focus on that website because I knew there was a bunch more opportunity there. In April I got Google slapped and my income and traffic dropped by 90%.
Oh well. You get knocked off the horse. You get back up. Eventually the horse will take you there.
I then started studying success heavily -- Jim Rohn, Napoleon Hill, Earl Nightingale, etc. This stuff is great. I have committed to lifelong learning.
I also restarted selling SEO services, but instead focused on serving my local market. I really had no idea where to start, so I purchased some resources on how to help my local market. It was OK, but I needed a lot of work on selling.
Also, they packaged it with an SEO reseller program. We sold the services marked up and they fulfilled them. Not a good model because it did not give my customers good value. Yes, the SEO services worked...eventually if you're not going after a competitive market.
I knew there was a better way and it was to manage/serve my customers directly -- better prices and better service = more value for my customers.
So, I sought out how to be great at SEO. It was not easy, but late last year I became friends with a guy who had ranked sites for super competitive terms. And not ranked as in #7, but #1 for a lot of stuff. He showed me all of his most advanced techniques. I thought I was about a 6-7 in my SEO skills before I met him. Then I realized I was about a 2-3.
Immediately, I started getting better results (starting December-January). And in March my business took a sharp turn for the positive. My clients are happy. I'm happy because I see so many business owners getting poor information or paying a bunch of money for no results. My business is growing and so am I. I go to work every day with a smile on my face and pep in my step!
There's a terrible idea that people who are training internet marketers say to convince them to sell even when they're not very good. The idea is that you know more than your customer and that makes you the expert -- "In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is King." Bullshit. I've taken 3 biology courses in college. Do you want me performing brain surgery on you?
Anyway, I am now trying to scale my business up and was thinking about small business resources and remembered this forum and MJ's book. So, I thought I'd come here and try to get better at running and scaling up a business. Hopefully I learn a thing or 2 or 100.
Any suggestions on favorite threads would be appreciated.
I can finally see my path to my goals pretty clearly. I'm sure I will need to adjust my path 100x more, but at least I have direction. Before, when I started I had no idea where the path was or what it looked like or what to expect.
Whew. If you read all that, here's a cookie!
Thanks and have a great day,
David
I read TMF in late 2011. I'm very mathy, so MJ's mathematical argument for becoming wealthy instantly hit home. The world is exponential, but most people think linearly.
At the time I was working as an Engineer at a big company you've certainly heard of. I had a masters degree in Engineering from the best school in my field, a 2 year old and another on the way and had been working out how to escape my boring, but well paying job for a while. My wife did not want me to quit -- as you might imagine. I was in an enviable position and had a lot to lose she basically would tell me. I understood her position, but I'm pretty sure I've only got one life to live and if I spent 20 years working a job I didn't want that didn't help me meet my goals it would be my own damn fault.
I had made some websites in 2009. Was able to rank #1 for some competitive and valuable terms by 2010 and I started selling SEO services in late 2010. However, I wasn't making quit-your-well-paying-job kind of money. I shut down my SEO services company after about a year because I wasn't positioned very well and, despite getting results for my clients, ran the math on scaling up and it just didn't make sense.
In March of 2012, I decided I could not take it any longer and quit my job. I had savings and a website that was making about $1k/month. I decided to focus on that website because I knew there was a bunch more opportunity there. In April I got Google slapped and my income and traffic dropped by 90%.
Oh well. You get knocked off the horse. You get back up. Eventually the horse will take you there.
I then started studying success heavily -- Jim Rohn, Napoleon Hill, Earl Nightingale, etc. This stuff is great. I have committed to lifelong learning.
I also restarted selling SEO services, but instead focused on serving my local market. I really had no idea where to start, so I purchased some resources on how to help my local market. It was OK, but I needed a lot of work on selling.
Also, they packaged it with an SEO reseller program. We sold the services marked up and they fulfilled them. Not a good model because it did not give my customers good value. Yes, the SEO services worked...eventually if you're not going after a competitive market.
I knew there was a better way and it was to manage/serve my customers directly -- better prices and better service = more value for my customers.
So, I sought out how to be great at SEO. It was not easy, but late last year I became friends with a guy who had ranked sites for super competitive terms. And not ranked as in #7, but #1 for a lot of stuff. He showed me all of his most advanced techniques. I thought I was about a 6-7 in my SEO skills before I met him. Then I realized I was about a 2-3.
Immediately, I started getting better results (starting December-January). And in March my business took a sharp turn for the positive. My clients are happy. I'm happy because I see so many business owners getting poor information or paying a bunch of money for no results. My business is growing and so am I. I go to work every day with a smile on my face and pep in my step!
There's a terrible idea that people who are training internet marketers say to convince them to sell even when they're not very good. The idea is that you know more than your customer and that makes you the expert -- "In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is King." Bullshit. I've taken 3 biology courses in college. Do you want me performing brain surgery on you?
Anyway, I am now trying to scale my business up and was thinking about small business resources and remembered this forum and MJ's book. So, I thought I'd come here and try to get better at running and scaling up a business. Hopefully I learn a thing or 2 or 100.
Any suggestions on favorite threads would be appreciated.
I can finally see my path to my goals pretty clearly. I'm sure I will need to adjust my path 100x more, but at least I have direction. Before, when I started I had no idea where the path was or what it looked like or what to expect.
Whew. If you read all that, here's a cookie!
Thanks and have a great day,
David
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